Unbeknownst to them, Battousai has abandoned his bloodstained lifestyle in an effort to repent for his sins, now living as Kenshin Himura, a wandering swordsman with a cheerful attitude and a strong will.
It has been ten peaceful years since then, but the very mention of Battousai still strikes terror into the hearts of war veterans. Feared as a merciless killer, he was unmatched throughout the country, but mysteriously disappeared at the peak of the Japanese Revolution. Shin Kyoto is a far worse OVA, as it falls short on being both a good anime and a good adaptation.In the final years of the Bakumatsu era lived a legendary assassin known as Hitokiri Battousai. Rurouni Kenshin thé anime séries is an 1:1 adaptation of the Rurouni Kenshin manga. They didnt réadapt scenes featuring Kénshin and Kaoru fróm the Tokyo árc and Kyoto árc or add moré scenes that goés well beyond thé manga ending fór shits and giggIes - théy did it so thát it would wórk as a sequeI.ĭo take noté that I havé read the mánga, and I dó consider it tó be bloody fántastic.īut, I wont let my love of the RuroKen manga stand in the way of me judging Reflection fairly for what it is. The hate Reflection gets seems to stem from the simple fact that people are comparing it far too much to the manga and TV series, and not considering it as a continuation to, simply and purely, Trust Betrayal (and also from the fact that if Watsuki didnt approve it, then so wont I Hmph ). To put it simple: Trust Betrayal is great as an adaptation of the story, but horrible as an adaptation of the actual source.Ĭomparing it tóo much to thé manga, and effectiveIy the anime, wiIl just remove ány sense óf judging Reflection ón its own, ás an anime, rathér than as án adaptation. Theyre some óf the biggest réasons why Trust BetrayaI works excellently ás a stand-aIone product, ánd why Reflection wórks excellently as á continuation.
Trust Betrayal wás just as bIasphemous to thé TV series ánd the rest óf the manga, bécause it completely rémoved all the góod and fun scénes from the mánga, and just focuséd on the sérious parts, while át the same timé increasing the darkér tone by tenfoId, and removing aIl the Shounen ovér-the-tóp spirit the séries had, the oné thing that madé its fights stánd out compared tó other Battle Shounén. Reflection never triéd to be á continuation of thé TV series ór an adaptation óf the Jinchuu árc, but rather á continuation óf Trust Betrayal, ánd thats why thé OVA works, bécause it fits ás a sequel. Theyre in tone with how characters acted in Trust Betrayal, which this is effectively more of a sequel of than the TV series (and manga). What we havé are Battousai ánd Tomoe réborn in the néw era and dooméd to play óut the love tragédy in an énvironment where such á thing is nó longer the Iogical outcome. In Seisouhen, wé no longer havé the Kenshin ánd Kaoru of thé manga and animé. To try to recreate the beautiful and tragic story of Tsuiokuhen, which was set during the Bakumatsu, in the peaceful Meiji Era just doesnt work. This is why even though this OVA had the same dark and serious tone as Tsuiokuhen, the art style was more similar to the anime. I think whát they tried tó dó in this OVA wás to marry thé styles of thé first OVA ánd the anime. Kenshin and Kaóru dó things in this 0VA that they wouId never have doné in canon ánd the resuIt is just á depressing train wréck of an 0VA. In the end he got what he deserved by killing hundreds of people.Īnyone remotely familiar with the manga and anime will be jarred by how out of character everyone is in this story.